1. Field of the Invention
The invention pertains to the field of computer terminals and peripherals. More particularly, the present invention relates to document scanning computer peripherals and to computer terminals including such document scanners.
2. Description of the Related Art
The long heralded advent of the paperless office has so far failed to materialize. In fact, the advent of small and powerful computers has actually led to an increase in the amount of paper generated. A small footprint, heavy-duty and high performance document scanner is, therefore, an extremely desirable peripheral that would aid organizations to streamline document capture, processing and archiving operations. Traditionally, in large organizations, documents are scanned using large high-volume document scanners, which because of their high complexity and high price, are located in a specialized centralized department staffed with operators that have neither knowledge of nor responsibility for the content of the documents scanned. The alternative to such large scanners are desktop scanners. However, currently available desktop scanners have thus far largely been relegated to home uses due in part to their slow performance. What are needed, therefore, are small footprint, heavy-duty and high performance document scanning terminals suitable for desktop use in business enterprise environments.
For important documents that are scanned, the original paper copy of the document often must be accessible for reference, thus requiring large centralized storage space with sophisticated environmental control equipment. However, in order to improve efficiency, there is growing pressure to eliminate the need to access the archived original paper copy. The person performing the document capture, therefore, should be responsible for ensuring that the document is properly scanned, that any information, parameters or codes associated with the document are captured and that an electronic receipt and/or a paper receipt is produced as proof that the scanning operation has been successfully completed. What are also needed, therefore, are document scanners that generate an electronic and/or paper receipt for the documents that are scanned.
Many document scanner currently on the market have a unitary construction, featuring a single, non-modifiable configuration. However, such a configuration might not be appropriate for all uses or for all users. What is also needed, therefore, are scanning terminals that are modular in construction, affording users the ability to configure the scanning terminal according to their needs and budgets.
An object of the present invention, therefore, is to provide small footprint, heavy-duty and high performance document scanning terminals suitable for desktop use. It is another object of the present invention to provide document scanners that generate an electronic and/or paper receipt for the documents that are scanned. A still further object of the present invention is to provide scanning terminals that are modular in construction, affording users the ability to configure the scanning terminal to their needs and budgets.
In accordance with the above-described objects and those that will be mentioned and will become apparent below, a terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention comprises a display module; a document scanning module; a cylindrical paper roll rotatably mounted on a spindle within the terminal such that flat edges of the roll are substantially parallel to a base surface of the terminal; a receipt printer assembly, the receipt printer assembly being adapted to print a receipt of a document scanning operation on paper from the cylindrical paper roll, and control and processing electronics, the control and processing electronics being coupled to and controlling an operation of at least the display module, the document scanning module and the receipt printer assembly.
According to other embodiments of the invention, the terminal may further comprise a sliding tray supporting the receipt printer assembly and the cylindrical paper roll, the tray being adapted to slide from a first position wherein the paper roll and the receipt printer assembly are disposed within the terminal and a second position wherein both the receipt printer assembly and the paper roll are exposed to allow substantially unencumbered access thereto. A handle may be attached to the sliding tray for manually pushing and pulling the sliding tray into and out of the terminal. The sliding tray may be travel-limited to prevent the sliding tray from being pulled out too far and tipping the terminal. The terminal may further comprise a pivoting terminal door and a paper exit guide mounted within the pivoting terminal door, the printed receipt being fed through the paper exit guide. The receipt printer assembly may print a readable code on the receipt linking the printed receipt to information obtained from the document scanning operation. The terminal may further comprise a code reader configured to read the printed code, to thereby access the information obtained from the document scanning operation. The code reader may include a barcode reader. The barcode reader may include a laser barcode reader and/or a CCD bar code reader, for example. The receipt printer assembly may include a read-after-print mechanism to detect printing failures. A communications interface adapted to allow the terminal to communicate with a remote computer may also be provided. The terminal may further comprise a smart chip reader coupled to and controlled by the control and processing electronics. The terminal may further include a keyboard module and/or a display coupled to the control and processing electronics. At least the display and document scanning modules may include quick release interlocking clips that allow the modules to be attached to or separated from one another and/or a terminal base. A cover to which the display module is fitted may be provided, the cover being dimensioned to a size of the display module. The receipt printer assembly may include a printer of a type selected from a group including thermal print, impact, electric burning and arcing and ink jet types, for example.
The present invention may also be viewed as a document scanning terminal, comprising a scanning module and a receipt printer assembly module adapted to print a receipt of a scanning operation from paper fed to the printer assembly by a cylindrical paper roll, the cylindrical paper roll being disposed within the terminal such that flat edges of the roll are substantially parallel to a base surface of the terminal.
According to further embodiments of the document scanning terminal, the receipt printer may print a readable code on the receipt, the code linking the printed receipt to information obtained from a scanning operation carried out by the scanning module. The terminal may further comprise a code reader adapted to read the code, to thereby access the information obtained from the scanning operation. The scanning terminal may further comprise a terminal base, a terminal casing removably fitted to the terminal base, the terminal casing enclosing the receipt printer assembly, and a terminal cover removably fitted on the terminal casing. The scanning terminal may further comprise a sliding tray mounted to the terminal base, the sliding tray supporting the receipt printer assembly and the cylindrical paper roll, the tray being adapted to slide from a first operative position wherein the paper roll and the receipt printer assembly are enclosed within the terminal casing and a second paper loading and servicing position wherein both the receipt printer assembly and the paper roll are accessible outside the terminal casing. The terminal casing may comprise a pivoting door, the door being open when the tray is in the second position. The receipt printer assembly and the cylindrical paper roll may alternatively be mounted to the terminal base and the cylindrical roll of paper may be loaded by detaching the terminal cover from the terminal casing and/or removing the terminal casing from the terminal base. The scanning module, the terminal base, the terminal casing and the terminal cover may each include quick release interlocking clips allowing the scanning module, the terminal base, the terminal casing and the terminal modules to be attached to or separated from one another. The scanning terminal may further comprise control and processing electronics housed in the terminal base, the terminal base and the scanning module including mating integrated power and control connectors to electrically couple the scanning module to the control and processing electronics. The receipt printer assembly module may print a readable code on the receipt, the code linking the printed receipt to information obtained from a scanning operation carried out by the scanning module. The terminal further may comprise a code reader configured to read the printed code, to thereby access the information obtained from the scanning operation. The scanning terminal may also comprise a smart chip reader housed in the terminal base. The scanning module may be configured to scan a document having a width of up to about 225 mm and a length at least about 400 mm. The scanning terminal may further comprise control and processing electronics housed in the terminal base; a keyboard, and a display, both the keyboard and the display being electrically coupled to the control and processing electronics. The keyboard and the display may be fitted to the terminal cover.
The present invention is also a modular computer terminal, comprising a document scanner module; control and processing electronics; a display module and/or a keyboard module; and an integrated printer, wherein the modules each include quick release interlocking clips allowing the modules to be attached to or separated from one another.
According to still further embodiments, the modular computer terminal may further comprise a terminal base housing the control and processing electronics; a terminal casing removably fitted to the terminal base, the terminal casing enclosing the printer, and a terminal cover removably fitted to the terminal casing. The terminal casing may be configured to enclose a rotatably mounted cylindrical paper roll that supplies paper to the printer, flat edges of the paper roll being substantially parallel to the base surface of the terminal. The printer may be configured to print a receipt after the document scanner module scans a document, the receipt including a readable code linking the printed receipt to information associated with the scanned document. The modular computer terminal may further comprise a code reader configured to read the code, the display module displaying the information associated with the scanned document when the code reader reads the code printed on the receipt. The modular computer terminal may further comprise a random access mass storage device, the storage device storing and allowing access to the information associated with the scanned document. The integrated printer may include a read-after-print mechanism to detect scanning or printing failures. The display module may include a touch screen.
The foregoing and other features of the invention are described in detail below and set forth in the appended claims.